Fifa’s ethics watchdog wants the suspended Uefa president, Michel Platini, to be banned for life, according to his lawyer.
Platini and the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, last week had appeals rejected against the decision by Fifa’s ethics committee in October to ban them both for 90 days while investigations into a £1.35m payment to the Frenchman continued.
Platini’s lawyer, Thibaud d’Alès, described Fifa’s alleged life ban demand as a “scandal” and “excessive”. Blatter’s representatives refused to comment on whether the same request has been made against the Swiss official.
“The overreaching of the request really convinces us of this commission’s total lack of credibility,” D’Alès said. “There is not a single tangible element in this case that can confirm the suspicions.”
Fifa’s ethics committee announced on Monday it had opened a case against Blatter and Platini and a decision is expected to be handed down next month. Until then Platini is forbidden to take part in the race to become Blatter’s successor as the president of Fifa with the election scheduled for 26 February.
His suspension is due to expire in January but it is understood Fifa’s ethics committee is on track to make a decision on the facts of the case before Christmas, with both men facing the possibility of lengthy bans.
Blatter was accused by the Swiss attorney general of making a £1.35m payment to Platini weeks before he was re-elected as the Fifa president in 2011. Platini has argued the payment was for work carried out when he worked for Blatter as a special adviser between 1998 and 2002 but Blatter had told him at the time that Fifa could not afford to pay and he did not want to upset its wage structure.
It soon emerged there was no written contract for the payment, with both sides arguing it was a “gentleman’s agreement”. Blatter and Platini have denied wrongdoing.
Platini has now has lodged an appeal with the court of arbitration for sport against his 90-day ban. “Obviously we’ve got the proof that such a deal existed,” D’Ales said. “We will submit it to CAS, which will handle the case within a fairly short space of time.”
A spokesman for the Fifa ethics prosecutors declined to confirm what sanction was requested last week.